Quote of the Month

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging
to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect."

- Aldo Leopold

Fact of the Month

Farmers have enrolled a total of 31 million acres in the
Conservation Reserve Program to protect the environment and
provide habitat for wildlife. Since its inception in 1985, the
program has helped reduce soil erosion by 622 million tons and
restored more than 2 million acres of wetlands.

Take Our Quiz

Eric
Caine is a brilliant and talented writer. He has written many
columns for the Modesto Bee and is an English Instructor at
Merced Junior College. His insightful and common sense
approach to our Valley problems is a welcome breath of fresh
air for readers who care about sustaining a quality of life
for residents in Merced County and the Central Valley of
California.

Between
Friends/Entre Amigos is dedicated to providing the families of
Merced County with information pertinent to everyday life.
Their goal is to promote ideas, family values and pride in the
family through information while supporting the business
community and local organizations.

California
FarmLink works to ensure the future of family farming in
California. The future of agricultural production and the
viability of productive, diversified, and sustainable farms is
far too important to be left to a random process of "marry or
inherit". California FarmLink provides a range of services to
facilitate a transition from one farmer or landowner to the
next generation of farmers.

Connecting
our community to local small organic and natural farms and
ranches in the Central Valley of California, providing
information on local farm news, events, healthy lifestyles,
the benefits of organics and the farmers who feed us!

One
out of every six acres developed in California since the Gold
Rush was paved over between 1990 and 2004, concludes a new AFT
report, Paving Paradise: A New Perspective on California
Farmland Conversion. In all, more than a half million acres
were urbanized during this period, almost two-thirds of it
agricultural land. Among AFT's other findings: More than 60%
of the land developed in the San Joaquin Valley, which
accounts for half of California's agricultural production, was
farmland of the very best quality. The attached report
includes both a database and text that explains and analyzes
the data.

The
Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA)
provides educational and business opportunities for farm
workers and aspiring farmers to grow and sell crops grown on
two organic farms in Monterey County, California.

From
its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff
in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most
of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a
20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of
our production and consumption patterns.